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Marriage vows tested: What happened to in sickness and health, for better or for worse, through thick and thin?

The seven women, including the wives of a business tycoon and a former housing minister, have demanded to split from their husbands through khulaa, the sources said.

Under this law, which is generally based on sharia, or the Islamic legal code, a woman is entitled to divorce her husband, with or without his assent, they added.

"With this law, a wife who wants a divorce over the objections of her husband will have to return to him any money or property that he paid her upon the marriage," the sources said.

The seven wives, whose names will be withheld, decided to take this move after their husbands have been detained on the heels of a popular uprising that toppled the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

They have also expressed their will to apologise to the Egyptian people for the crimes their husbands have committed against their country.

After the downfall of the Mubarak regime on February 11, the prosecutors froze the assets of the officials and their wives and banned them from leaving the country.

The seized funds totalled in billions of dollars, the sources said. The decision clears the way for a criminal investigation and a possible trial of these officials.

There are no official figures on the funds held by these top officials and their families, but many Egyptians believe they run into billions, with much of it held overseas.